Restaurant Review - Precious palates

GRAZING

Since early April, I’ve done a couple of double takes driving Peachtree toward Buckhead. Whizzing by the old Miami Subs location, I kept seeing a sign I thought said “Satyriasis.”

What kind of restaurant, I wondered, would name itself after the disorder of uncontrollable sexual desire in men? Of course, my misreading says more about my own imagination than the restaurant owners’. The name of the place is really Satay Ria (1861 Peachtree Rd., 404-609-9990) and the Malaysian name actually translates “happy skewer.” Oh. Close enough to my original thought! Never mind!

A few weeks ago, Rose D’Agostino, Wayne and I paid a visit to this oddly situated Malaysian-Thai restaurant. We had every reason to expect a good experience. It is owned by the same people who operate the more normally situated Little Malaysia on Buford Highway. Moreover, the batik-clad staff works in a dining room that is a pretty amazing re-do of a “Miami Vice” nightmare. It’s all bamboo and Southeast Asia bric-a-brac. The staff is almost annoyingly attentive, pleading to know that all is perfection, offering to do anything to redeem less than that.

It pains me to say so in the face of such earnestness, but we found our meal so far below the kind of food we are accustomed to eating at Penang that we were mystified. When the manager asked me what I thought of the food, I began a litany of complaints. I seldom do this in person but I was stunned.

The most obvious and consistent problem is the peculiar understatement of chilies in a cuisine that is known for stinging the palate. Order a classic dish like kari ayam, curried chicken, and it is tasty but bland ($9.25). Ditto for classic rendang, cubes of lamb traditionally cooked in a chili-enriched, curry-based coconut milk ($13.99).

When I complained, the manager reminded me that we were dining in Buckhead. “Everyone said the food was too spicy,” he said, offering to bring extra chili paste on the side. He told us that at our next visit we should ask for “hot.” Then I observed also that the rendang was soupy, it should have most of its liquid reduced so that the sauce is literally clinging to the meat. “People say it was too dry,” he said.

Even roti canai ($3.50), the folded crepe served as a starter, was a disappointment. It was not crisp, it was not hot, and it was served with a bland lentil curry. It actually resembled a tortilla more than the deliciously thin and crispy version at Penang. A lobak roll, a deep-fried tofu wrapper encasing minced meat and shrimp ($5.99), was one of the few things that cost less than its Penang version, but was also bland. The signature starter of satay, seafood or meat charcoal-grilled on skewers, was better than average, although, again, the peanut sauce could use 10 degrees more heat ($6.50).

Probably our favorite dish was a vegetable curry, kari sayur, featuring okra, eggplant, string beans, snowpeas and tofu in a coconut curry sauce ($8.25). My least favorite by far was the lividly orange Thai-style prawns in chili sauce ($15.99).

Undoubtedly, Satay Ria’s chefs are in cultural shock from having to alter their recipes to placate the delicate mouths of the milk-fed boys and girls on their way to nearby Café Intermezzo. Those who like complexity and fire in their food will not be happy. Here’s a compromise: Lunch at Satay Ria, but dine evenings at Penang.

Back to Chambodia

Disappointed by Satay Ria’s self-described “exotic cuisine,” I visited Penang (4897 Buford Hwy, 770-220-0308) a week later with Will Bonner and Tony Leonard. I wanted to make certain my comparisons were not some culinary false memory syndrome - not at all. We had a fabulous meal of dishes that layered salty flavors with piquant ones, sweet notes with tamarind ones, slippery textures with crisp ones, weirdness with comfort. I consider this restaurant one of Atlanta’s jewels.

Rose and I paid a visit to Panda Inn (5389 New Peachtree Rd., 770-457-6678) recently. We initially encountered some lagging service and we were irritated when the server told us there was not a single dumpling, wonton or pot sticker to be had. But we then had one of the best Chinese meals we’ve had in months. This Szechwan-style restaurant has made nearly everyone’s “best” list the last few years. Incredibly, it seems to keep getting better.

The usual attraction for foodies is the big-splash style dishes like a whole fish steamed in garlic sauce and covered with spicy bean curd ($12.95). I find such dishes relentlessly oily and only enjoyable if I get plenty of vegetables on the side. But, honestly, it’s hard to get a vegetable here that isn’t full of seafood, meat or bean curd. We skipped the big fish altogether this visit.

One of my favorite snack-style dishes here is the big mound of stir-fried anchovies with peanuts and hot chilies ($7.95). We also sampled absolutely flawless baby snow pea vines studded with shrimp in a very light white sauce ($8.95). The total surprise was a blind choice of “shrimp with pan fried egg” ($6.95). Who knew it would be a plate-sized omelet, crunchy and deliciously glazed, stuffed with all kinds of goodies. Do not miss it. A shredded pork dish with hot garlic sauce ($5.25) finished our absurdly huge and inexpensive meal.

Last week, Jack Pelham and I dined at Pung Mie, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants on Buford Hwy. It’s home-style Hong Kong cooking with Korean accents. We had one of those very unpleasant experiences where a server tried to talk us out of anything she thought would be unappealing to our white-boy palates. When Jack ordered shrimp with nida, she shook her head continually even after we assured her we love chive-like nida. She returned with a bunch of the stuff in her hand, shaking her head warily.

“We love nida!” we shouted. “Cook it, already!”

That dish was fine, but my favorite of hot braised chicken was a vapid version of the usual: reduced chilies, reduced garlic, added sugar.

Is this evidence that what happens on Peachtree can also happen on Buford Highway?

Mea culpa

Two weeks ago, in my positive review of Deux Plex, I incorrectly reported the name of the chef. The present chef is Hector Santiago ... and I love his cuisine! ??